RPR

I may be confused about your objective so if my response reflects that confusion please utterly disregard it. You have a Stage 1 that you like but that is currently in hard top/van garb? You need the extra row of seats. If so, it strikes me that the easiest way to go about this is: Remove bulkhead and use that bulkhead replacement kit that I have seen sold by a few outfits. Install side windows (not very difficult and suggest going the extra few yards for sliding windows) and safari door (if not already fitted) Install plenty of soundproofing matting Install two forward facing seatbelt equipped seats behind bulkhead (Exmoor trim, All Wheel trim, other usual suspects) or a bench seat and fit three point belts. This achieves your objectives and while the inconvenience of not having the rear two station wagon doors remains, access to the rear seats via the safari door shouldn't be particularly difficult for kids. It is a much less expensive and time-consuming process than trying to convert to a station wagon body and with the addition of an aftermarket electric/ceramic heater (ebay) hardwired to the battery or something like the Mojave auxilliary heater that plumbs in (also ebay) and mounted on or about the bulkhead replacement bars, the back should be plenty well heated as well. The bulkhead replacement and installation of side windows opens things up, improves visibility and gets you a good way towards station wagon conditions without all the extra time and expense od a full conversion. Of course, a 109 SIII Station Wagon with a V8 conversion would also be a good way to go, though the Missus may not agree. If you add power steering and a disc brake conversion, it may bring her around

Thanks. Good thing I asked....

Yes, I did do a search. Perhaps not as thorough as one might, but I am sure someone will have this on the tip of their tongue. What is the engine oil capacity for the 3.5 V8 ? Thanks.

Ye Olde Glazing Putty and silicon sealant. If you have a somewhat well established autoglass shop around you, they ought to be able to flog you some generic rubber seating stuff. Then you go round with the grouting seal and it becomes water-tight(ish), just like new.

It looks fine, but A) 475 quid is too much money and B) that would be just the start of it - as the ad intimates. Once you increase fueling and air, you really need an improved cam profile, and better flow through the head and exhaust - otherwise you're really just increasing the fuel inefficiency of the 2.25 lump. It's a lot of money, but I was very impressed with the performance improvement from the ACR PowerPlus kit. When I was in Malaysia, the legendary Vicki ( K. Vigneswaran - sp?) who is now working somewhere in the UK as far as I know - pioneered a very nice Volvo carb conversion that I believe used an adaptor to the standard manifold. There are a number of older 2 bbl carbs in the US that have been successfully used and would cost hundreds less than the one linked to above. I believe that there's an outfit on the West Coast of the US, called British Pacific? that does a kit somewhat like ACR's PowerPlus and I recall a carb like the one linked above. With the exchange rate like it is, well worth looking into!

LR PAS box; Saginaw box, Toyota box. All good and relatively straight forward conversions for which there are threads here or in the tech archive to get you started. You will be happy to have it!

I would suggest to your friend that he bin the P38 or give it to the Mrs and just buy a @ 400 HP Land Cruiser from Mohammed Bin Sulayem's outfit in Dubai. He will have a great deal of fun in the dunes and it will be eminently more serviceable than a 5 litre plus V8 in a P38 in the Kingdom (especially since JW doesn't live there anymore and doesn't have bathtubs full of spare gearboxes and such at hand )....

And here are some photos that may be helpful. These are shots from when it was on Series axles and 32" tyres with the Revolvers on and longer travel shocks, but without the Gon2far shock mounts and long travel procomp shocks. Good, but not Earth-shattering: And these are post portal shots with 36" Super Swampers but with the Gon2far shock mounts and Procomp shocks. The only way to get more travel out of the front end of a Series is to extend the hangers and mount longer springs: (pardon my ar5e in the last one)

Blown shock(s)?

Sorry - I've been on walk-about for a bit... Okay. I have had some Gon2far kit and some other bits that were very like Nigel's gear but done separately. At one point when I still had Series axles, I had Revolvers front and rear (prototypes that Bill at GBR had made up), wide-yolk propshafts from the Propshaft Clinic in Bradford (same place his came from AFAIK), ProComp long travel shocks and Nigel's long travel shock mounts. I was working on a lot of this stuff at the same time that he was developing his kit and I have to say that he did a very good job of it and that the lockable/unlockable pivoting system for the front end that he developed strikes me as superior to having Revolvers on the front end. It was well thought out and when Nigel was trading as Gon2Far, the workmanship was very good. I'm not saying it has changed, just that I don't know. I cannot get the full benefit of the Revolvers at the front end. Even with a strengthened, narrow diameter, wide yolk front propshaft, without scalloping the crossmember (which I didn't want to do), that remains the limiting factor. I get good front travel, but a set of military shackles, long travel shocks and mounts (Nigel's extended shcok mount design is very good at the front) would get you pretty much the same thing. I think his lockable pivoting system for the front is superior to Revolvers. On the other hand, extending the front spring hangers a few inches to allow you to run rear end parabolic springs and using military length shackles would probably be the optimal solution. At the rear end, you just can make a propshaft with enough slipjoint to max out the Revolvers. I did not think as highly of the rear shock mounts, but it was a clever solution to a very difficult issue. With the Volve axles, I use the stock lower mount and a custom higher mount still under the bed. I get a lot of rear travel (sorry can't recall the measurements) but even with a custom wide-yolk shaft that has as much slip joint as can be made, it runs out before the Revlovers are fully extended. In summation, it's a lot of money to buy the full kit, but it delivers. I definitely have more articulation than a 90 with retained 2" plus springs. At there rear end, I have more but frankly with the portals, 36" Super Swampers, and front and rear lockers, I don't need as much articulation these days The Gon2far system was well thought out and well designed. Were I to do it all over again, I would use the Revolver set up at the rear end but at the front end I would extend the spring hangers forward and run parabolics with extended shackles rather than use Revolvers at the front. The Gon2far pivoting front end system may be equally good but I haven't actually seen it. In my view, it's not a bad way to spend money if the workmanship is still as good as when Nigel was running the show.

KB "KevinNY" to whom Jim refers above can be reached via PBB. He has put an NOS Santana box behind the 2.8. I think this box is pretty much the same as the late Series box but with more cooling fins on the casing. He believes that it is possessed of stronger internals. In any event, he has been using it for several months now with no ill effect. I have a Series box behind a 3.5 V8 in the Tonka that has worked well now for over a year. While Bill's advice to put the whole Daihatsu transmission behind the powerplant makes good sense, I think if you have an adaptation kit for the SIII box available and the gearbox is in good shape (or is freshened up now) you can probably get away with it for some time, particularly if you are judicious in using the skinny pedal in 1 - 2 low range and are easy off the traffic lights in high range. Nevertheless, I suggest you purchase the gearbox and transfer case now so that if (when) you need it later, it's handy...

Rostyles look great on a clean and tidy Series truck and can be fit by macining out the center a bit. The Disco steels advice is spot on as well.

Concourse restoration 80" have auctioned in the GBP 27,000 range. A similar level of restoration for an 86" may fetch in the high teens - low twenties but that's much more iffy. For an 88" I can't find any consistent numbers. In any event, it's definitely worth taking a look at them as 1500 squid for a good'un and two donors seems like a good deal.

Mine does. '78 SSW 88". Should have a safari door as opposed to a split tailgate as well. There was a lot of parts bin mix-n-match in the building in the late Seventies, so exact specs are a somewhat esoteric concept....

ECR Coil Spring Series Page With plenty of time and money, ECR will do an excellent job for you. I have seen several ECR coil conversions and they are very tidy. While you are at it, change the engine. A Rover V8 will bolt right up to the transmission combo that you are talking about and you will be much happier with 180 hp than 75. Another option is to speak with Matt Browne of Overland Engineering (also in Maine) Overland Engnineering He does excellent work, but he's pretty busy these days.

Thanks Streaky. We're coming to Dubai for Christmas. It would be great to catch up with you and the other reprobates. I'll PM you.

I missed that - and it makes a lot of sense. Will give it a shot and report back. Cheers

Thanks. Snake oil it is. I can live with the wander, but I'm not sure if the Sandbag can, and this one is hers...

Having put 2+" springs on the new (to me) Disco, there is definitely some increased castor related wander, despite my thinking that the winch and second battery would sit it down enough for this not to be the case. Is there anything to "castor correcting" bushes, or is it hype? Since I have never heard resounding endorsements for any polybushes (and have never used anything but standard rubber jobbies), if there is something to be said for castor correction bushes, is there any make that seems more flexible and closer to standard than others? Thanks. Below is the vehicle in question:

'99 (effevctively a '98) US Spec 4.0 auto Disco 1. 102,000 miles. New standard discs and pads 2,500 miles ago. 235/85 MTs on factory alloys. Long, spongey pedal - poor braking (even for a Disco). Changed the brake fluid and flushed the system last week. Bled well. No improvement. What else should I be looking at or doing? ps - New to Disco's and all modern conveniences

One of my favorite shots so far. That's the sunset, not forest fires!

Some photos from the Nov 1 - 5 Trans-Vermont Expedition (TVTX). 286 miles (of which only 67 were on paved roads) from the Vermont Canada border to the Vermont Massachusetts border passing through 32 "towns" and using at least one Class IV road (more or less the equivalent of a greenlane but unmaintained and almost always very rarely traveled) or Legal Trail in each "town" and camping in the field. 10 vehicles. Average night-time temp was -12 C. Did this one in the Disco and was impressed. It takes a lot more skinny pedal than the Tonka but it sure is comfortable!

Thanks Tonk. That's the order that I've got them in - though I have Defender hinges and a Defnder safari door.

I put the station wagon top back on Sunday but didn't get to the safari door until this evening. Can't remeber how it mounts. How do the hinge assemblies go together? I've got hingepin in from the top through brass ball, spring underneath, and castlated nut on the bottom. Is this right? It seems that the spring should sit above the brass ball, but it doesn't fit that way. Have I got this backasswards?